Street Jazz

Bitter Reality Department: What GM has done is pretty much par for the course in the business world

In the past few years the fetish for having folks in Congress who understand the world of business - and even the glamorization of business people in the media - has led many to look upon our Captains of Industry as mythic heroes, where in reality, they are often just cheapskates who use any excuse possible not to spend the money they should, to make a product or workinhg conditions safer.

The most recent case in point is GM and how 13 deaths have been linked to a 57 cent part. Naturally, elected officials are using camera time to appear as Champions of the Public, and are horrified - horrified we say! - that GM has behaved in such a manner.

Of course, anyone who has actually punched a time clock can tell you of the essential cheapness of those who run industry in America, and the GM matter is really just the tip of the iceberg . . . if Congress chose to look closer.

Which they will not.

This is how things are done. We have come to look upon dead Americans as “acceptable losses” when it comes to corporate profits, and the day hasn’t dawned when a factory owner or corporate CEO will ever do the perp walk because their product has killed innocent Americans.

GM may be on the hot seat because they took a government loan, thus making them a natural target for conservatives, but problems like this are across the board, and folks shut their eyes.

Candidates take campaign donations.

They talk about “job creators.”

TV financial advisers tell us when to buy their stocks again.

And maybe, down the road, somebody might pay a fine. But not today . . .

It’s all for show.

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Quote of the Day

Just because you do not take an interest in politics does not mean that politics won’t take an interest in you. - Pericles